"Bill" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Phisherman wrote:

On Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:23:54 -0500, "Denis Mitchel"
wrote:

It seems like my last question caused some misunderstandings.

I live on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas and for the last two nights the
local weather people have been calling for a low of 38 degrees and
advising
that plants should be taken indoors to protect them from frost.

That was the reason for my first question. I just could not understand
their
reasoning for such advice.

Now for another question. In the last two weeks I have planted a number
of
bare-root roses. So far there has not been any frost in my area and my
roses
are doing great.

However, in the event there is a frost sometime in the near future, I
would
like to know how long a rose brush can withstand frost on it before
severe
damage is done to it.

Thanks,

Denis


Many plants are in danger when temperatures fall below 40, so that is
the reason for the advisement. Roses are not particularly sensitive
to cold, but if the entire rose plant freezes it will die. If there
is a light frost, you may have some tip die-back which is no big deal
for an established rose. Leaves or compost can be used as a
temporary blanket which will help minimize damage to young and tender
transplants during a cold snap.

My roses just took -5 f. Some like they would prefer 40 F.


Here in Zone 5 roses do fine frozen at around zero all winter with sporadic
hard freezes during late fall and after spring thaw begins. A frost may
damage flowers but won't hurt the plant one bit. In fact roses (related to
apple) do far better in colder climes.